Photos: The hills becoming green again

Hurricane Irma, on September 6, plucked several giant trees from the earth and stripped plants down to their stalks.

The once green hillsides of the British Virgin Islands, after being burned by winds of up to 185 miles per hour, took on a brownish colour.

A month after the disaster that claimed four lives and destroyed property, patches of green are returning to the landscape.

The greenery did not escape Premier Dr D Orlando Smith when he – along with other residents, gathered at Queen Elizabeth II Park last Friday at a ceremony to mark exactly one month after the category 5 hurricane.

Premier Smith noted the symbolism in the greenery bursting through the earth. “That tells us the BVI will rise again,” he told the gathering.